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syllogism

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
syl·lo·gism  (sl-jzm)
n.
1. Logic A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All humans are mortal, the major premise, I am a human, the minor premise, therefore, I am mortal, the conclusion.
2. Reasoning from the general to the specific; deduction.
3. A subtle or specious piece of reasoning.

[Middle English silogisme, from Old French, from Latin syllogismus, from Greek sullogismos, from sullogizesthai, to infer : sun-, syn- + logizesthai, to count, reckon (from logos, reason; see leg- in Indo-European roots).]

syllogism [ˈsɪləˌdʒɪzəm]
n
1. (Philosophy / Logic) a deductive inference consisting of two premises and a conclusion, all of which are categorial propositions. The subject of the conclusion is the minor term and its predicate the major term; the middle term occurs in both premises but not the conclusion. There are 256 such arguments but only 24 are valid. Some men are mortal; some men are angelic; so some mortals are angelic is invalid, while some temples are in ruins; all ruins are fascinating; so some temples are fascinating is valid. Here fascinating, in ruins, and temples are respectively major, middle, and minor terms
2. (Philosophy / Logic) a deductive inference of certain other forms with two premises, such as the hypothetical syllogism, if P then Q; if Q then R; so if P then R
3. (Philosophy / Logic) a piece of deductive reasoning from the general to the particular
4. (Philosophy / Logic) a subtle or deceptive piece of reasoning
[via Latin from Greek sullogismos, from sullogizesthai to reckon together, from sul- syn- + logizesthai to calculate, from logos a discourse]

syllogism
a form of reasoning in which two propositions or premises are stated and a logical conclusion is drawn from them. Each premise has the subject-predicate form, and each shares a common element called the middle term.
See also: Logic
a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a logical conclusion is drawn from them. See also logic. — syllogistic, adj.
See also: Argumentation
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.syllogism - deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
deductive reasoning, synthesis, deduction - reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)
ratiocination, conclusion - the proposition arrived at by logical reasoning (such as the proposition that must follow from the major and minor premises of a syllogism)
major premise, major premiss - the premise of a syllogism that contains the major term (which is the predicate of the conclusion)
minor premise, minor premiss, subsumption - the premise of a syllogism that contains the minor term (which is the subject of the conclusion)
Translations
syllogism [ˈsɪlədʒɪzəm] Nsilogismo m
syllogism
nSyllogismus m
syllogism [ˈsɪləˌdʒɪzm] nsillogismo
syllogism [ˈsɪləˌdʒɪzm] nsillogismo


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
But he does not bind up truth in logical formulae,-- logic is still veiled in metaphysics; and the science which he imagines to "contemplate all truth and all existence" is very unlike the doctrine of the syllogism which Aristotle claims to have discovered.
  This may be called the syllogism arithmetical, in which, by
From that premise the school of tulip-fanciers, the most exclusive of all schools, worked out the following syllogism in the same year: --
 
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